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It's worth noting on this anniversary of the Kilmichael Ambush that this site was irreparably damaged due to grant-funded landscaping works to "enhance" the location. One of the greatest missed opportunities of the Decade of Centenaries is that this is likely to occur again 1/9
Ireland has never conducted a nation-wide survey of War of Independence/Civil War sites to determine the surviving nature and extent of the historic conflict landscape. This makes it impossible for them to be appropriately managed, or dealt with during the planning process. 2/9
The state-led Irish Battlefields Project sought to do this for earlier sites, but was chronologically restricted to the pre-1800 period. Ireland generally fails to recognise archaeological landscapes that post-date this timeframe, another major issue 3/9 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irish-battlefields-to-be-better-protected-1.1290490
Despite the focus of attention on this period, there has been remarkably little work on identifying, defining or interpreting surviving elements of these sites. Instead, our conceptions of them are overwhelmingly dominated by the memorials that post-date the historic events 4/9
Though important, this memorial landscape is not contemporary with the conflict. As long as our focus remains there, well-meaning efforts during commemorative bursts (such as the one) to improve/add to memorials will lead to inadvertent destruction of the original landscape 5/9
I have argued elsewhere that our original War of Independence features have been largely "forgotten" as our remembrance of the period has long focused on memorials and the gravesides of those who lost their lives during the conflict. (For more see https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/isbn/9781781381229/) 6/9
Unless and until we address this blind spot regarding these landscapes (both as a state, and as archaeologists) our knowledge gap and our inability to mitigate from an informed position will lead to more Kilmichael-type events between now and 2022. 7/9
In the absence of state/university initiatives, one of the best ways to increase our knowledge-base is through local community projects that seek to identify these landscapes. Such projects would leave a lasting legacy from the Decade of Centenaries beyond just new memorials 8/9
For anyone who is interested in finding out how they can begin to explore and identify their own archaeological landscapes, you can check out this "Brief Guide to Researching Ireland's Threatened Landscapes of Revolution" here: https://landscapesofrevolution.wordpress.com/2018/08/21/resources-how-to-research-the-archaeology-the-threatened-landscapes-of-the-irish-revolution/ 9/9
